Daniel Schergen (LaPorte County Sheriff's Office).
An Indiana man pinned a 7-year-old family member's head against the back of a car seat and tried to force a bar of soap into his mouth after the child used profanity — leaving him with a bleeding forehead, according to police.
Daniel Schergen, 34, is charged with felony domestic battery on a person less than 14 years old for the alleged late-August incident in LaPorte County, according to court records.
Schergen was allegedly riding in an SUV with his girlfriend, the boy and three other children when he attacked the boy with soap. After one of the children was dropped off at football practice, the 7-year-old allegedly said a curse word that a witness in the vehicle described as "really bad," according to court documents obtained by local CBS affiliate WSBT.
Schergen allegedly directed his girlfriend to stop at a convenience store in Kingsbury and buy a bar of soap. When she returned, Schergen took the soap and tried to force it into the boy's mouth while holding his head down against the car seat, according to the court documents.
The child kept his mouth shut throughout the struggle, and Schergen allegedly struck him in the forehead. The boy fought back, hitting and kicking Schergen several times, cops say.
The child was allegedly left crying and screaming, with what police described as a bloody "oval mark" on his forehead. Schergen's girlfriend went back into the store to buy alcohol wipes and bandages to clean and cover the wound, according to court documents.
Schergen allegedly punished the boy with soap in his mouth on at least one previous occasion. An investigation was launched in September after cops received a report of suspected physical abuse from the Indiana Department of Child Services.
Schergen told investigators the boy had problems controlling his temper and had been suspended from school for hitting other children. He said he had been moving away from traditional punishments such as spanking in favor of timeouts and talking through problems, though he acknowledged those methods were not always effective, police said.
Photographs taken by the child's mother allegedly show redness on his forehead and a bruise on his face after the August incident. Schergen told investigators that the redness was caused by him holding the boy's head against the car seat, according to police.
LaPorte County Prosecutor Sean Fagan told WSBT that parents have a legal right to discipline their children, but that right has limits.
"When you're dealing with these kind of cases, you're always having to ask yourself how much is too much when it comes to the discipline of a child or a minor," Fagan said.
Schergen was arrested on a warrant Oct. 23 and released from the LaPorte County Jail five days later after posting $750 bond, according to court records.
If convicted, he could face between six and 30 months in prison.
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